Back in November, Andrew had his in-person interview for the PMF. They told us they'd let us know by January 24th. At first I wasn't sure how we'd survive until then because waiting is akin to torture. However, with Thanksgiving and Christmas and the New Year (a little something I like to call 'the holidays' so am in no way offended when people wish me 'Happy Holidays,' just as a side note) we were carried quickly through the rest of November and on through December. By the time January rolled around I had so entirely pushed the idea of the PMF out of my mind that it didn't even bother me. At least not much.
I still had that date in the back of my mind, but only in the back.
We were quite surprised, then, when Andrew got an email last Monday telling him that he was one of 628 finalists to have been selected from a pool of 9,100 applicants. Monday was the 23rd—that's a day early!
In reality he got it late at night on the 23rd so I think it was technically the 24th in DC.
Still. For us? It was a day early.
If we decide to go that route he has a year (from January 24th) to find a position. But we don't know if we want to go that route, necessarily. We're still waiting to hear back from grad schools. But this morning we got another exciting email, this time from Duke University. They wanted to have a phone interview with him...today. So at noon, he sought solace behind some dumpsters outside the Tanner building (because he had booked a study room but when he got there it was locked and he didn't have time to hunt down the keys) and interviewed with Duke University. He said they sounded very interested in how he wanted to mix his research in Middle East Studies with research in Public Administration—he had to describe twice what his research focus would be, once as if he was talking to MES people and once as if he was talking to public policy people. They will be making decisions in the next couple of weeks.
Truthfully, we weren't sure we'd hear anything positive back from Duke. Andrew had emailed a couple of professors over there and neither of them had written back to him. Everywhere else he applied the people he contacted returned his emails with advice or encouragement or what have you, but from Duke we got nothing back. We still finished applying even though we thought it was a bit of a long shot.
And, lo, they are the first school to contact us with a bit of cheery news. Even if it is simply to say that they haven't made any decisions yet but are certainly interested in Andrew's research. That's not a no...which is all we got last time.
We're still waiting to hear anything from the University of Indiana, Bloomington; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the American University in DC.
It's been an exciting couple of weeks for us, filled with un-news: Andrew's a PMF finalist, which is kind of a big deal, but he still has to try to secure a position; and Andrew interviewed with Duke University, but they still have yet to make an admissions decision.
It feels good to know that people at least are thinking about wanting us...it feels much better than flat out rejection.
I still had that date in the back of my mind, but only in the back.
We were quite surprised, then, when Andrew got an email last Monday telling him that he was one of 628 finalists to have been selected from a pool of 9,100 applicants. Monday was the 23rd—that's a day early!
In reality he got it late at night on the 23rd so I think it was technically the 24th in DC.
Still. For us? It was a day early.
If we decide to go that route he has a year (from January 24th) to find a position. But we don't know if we want to go that route, necessarily. We're still waiting to hear back from grad schools. But this morning we got another exciting email, this time from Duke University. They wanted to have a phone interview with him...today. So at noon, he sought solace behind some dumpsters outside the Tanner building (because he had booked a study room but when he got there it was locked and he didn't have time to hunt down the keys) and interviewed with Duke University. He said they sounded very interested in how he wanted to mix his research in Middle East Studies with research in Public Administration—he had to describe twice what his research focus would be, once as if he was talking to MES people and once as if he was talking to public policy people. They will be making decisions in the next couple of weeks.
Truthfully, we weren't sure we'd hear anything positive back from Duke. Andrew had emailed a couple of professors over there and neither of them had written back to him. Everywhere else he applied the people he contacted returned his emails with advice or encouragement or what have you, but from Duke we got nothing back. We still finished applying even though we thought it was a bit of a long shot.
And, lo, they are the first school to contact us with a bit of cheery news. Even if it is simply to say that they haven't made any decisions yet but are certainly interested in Andrew's research. That's not a no...which is all we got last time.
We're still waiting to hear anything from the University of Indiana, Bloomington; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the American University in DC.
It's been an exciting couple of weeks for us, filled with un-news: Andrew's a PMF finalist, which is kind of a big deal, but he still has to try to secure a position; and Andrew interviewed with Duke University, but they still have yet to make an admissions decision.
It feels good to know that people at least are thinking about wanting us...it feels much better than flat out rejection.
I am excited for you guys!! Yeah for Duke!!!!
ReplyDeleteDuke is awesome, but my fingers are crossed for AU. :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful un-news! :)
ReplyDeleteOk, it would be really cool if you guys moved to DC. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteThat's some pretty good un news:)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Which program did Andrew apply for at Michigan? Be sure to send us any questions you guys might have about Ann Arbor if it gets to that point.
ReplyDeleteExciting Times.